Counter-Terror Officers Investigate Ulez Camera Explosion
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism officers are investigating an incident where a Ulez camera was blown up using a “low-sophistication improvised explosive device” (IED).
These two paragraphs introduce the story.
The explosion happened at about 18:45 GMT on Wednesday in Sidcup, south-east London, damaging vehicles and property.
The Met has said it is treating the blast as a “deliberate act”, but not terrorism at this stage.
It also appears that the camera had been cut down earlier and then someone blew it up.
I am 76 and I know several of my generation, who experimented with explosives. One, who was an American, blew his hand off.
But speaking to my children, none said they had experimented.
Is it, that my generation was born closer to World War II?
I don’t drive so ULEZs and Low Traffic Neighborhoods don’t bother me, but if some blow-up cameras and deface the signs, they must bother others.
I can’t help feeling that Sadiq Khan is introducing policies, that some violently object to!
I doubt that is a sensible policy, both practically or politically.
Crown Estate Details Round 5 Plans
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Crown Estate has revealed details of a new leasing round, known as Round 5, for three commercial-scale floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea.
These are the first two paragraphs, which outline the three initial projects.
Located off the coast of South Wales and South West England, the sites will have a combined capacity of up to 4.5 GW, enough to supply four million homes with renewable energy.
The new wind farms are expected to be the first phase of commercial development in the region, with the UK Government confirming as part of its Autumn Statement in November its intention to unlock space for up to a further 12 GW of capacity in the Celtic Sea.
It looks like there could be another 7.5 GW available.
These four paragraphs indicate that the Crown Estate. expect the developers to to develop the local infratructure.
New details about the Round 5 auction include upfront investment in important workstreams to de-risk the process for developers and accelerate the deployment of projects.
This includes a multi-million-pound programme of marine surveys to better understand the physical and environmental properties around the locations of the new wind farms, as well as carrying out a Plan-Level Habitats Regulations Assessment early on in the process.
An Information Memorandum published today, on 7th December, also includes details of a series of contractual commitments for developers to create positive social and environmental impacts, focused on skills and training, tackling inequalities in employment, environmental benefits, and working with local communities.
In addition, bidders will be required to demonstrate commitments for the timely access to the port infrastructure needed to develop their projects, the Crown Estate said.
But it also appears that the Crown Estate are doing their bit by carrying out marine surveys.
Conclusion
It looks like the Crown Estate are making thing easier for developers, so that they increase the interest in Celtic Sea wind farms.
We’ll see if the strategy is successful, when contracts are awarded.
Vertical Farming Consortium Secures UK Government Funding To Advance Low-Emission Food Production Using Energy Storage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewable Energy Magazine.
This is the sub-heading.
A consortium of four British companies, comprising UK Urban AgriTech (UKUAT), Intelligent Growth Solutions Ltd, RheEnergise and James Hutton Institute has received a grant from the UK Government to advance the development of low-carbon and low-cost food production by co-locating renewable energy with vertical farms.
These paragraphs outline the project.
The V-FAST consortium’s £488,000 project will explore how co-locating RheEnergise’s HD Hydro Energy Storage system with vertical farms can support a low-emission route to growing protein-rich crops in a controlled environment.
Last year, V-FAST – Vertical Farming And Storage Technologies – started investigating sites in Scotland’s Central Belt for the location of Scotland’s next generation of hectare+ scale vertical farms, powered by 100 percent renewables and using RheEnergise’s High-Density Hydro energy storage system. These farms would provide locally produced fresh foods (salads and fruits) to over 60 percent of the Scottish population and help meet the Scottish Government’s ambitions to produce more homegrown fruit and vegetables. These site investigations in Scotland continue.
Now, with the Innovate UK and BBSRC funding as part of the Novel Low Emission Food Production Systems competition, V-FAST will broaden the area for its site feasibility studies to across the UK, using GIS to identify and rate suitable locations for vertical farms that are co-located with renewables and High-Density Hydro energy storage. As part of the project, V-FAST will also undertake crop trials to establish optimal climate recipes in terms of their energy efficiency relative to produce metrics (e.g. protein per kWh or kg of CO2e).
It certainly sounds unusual to pair vertical farming with energy storage, but if it works, why knock it?
RheEnergise’s HD Hydro Energy Storage system is effectively pumped storage hydroelectricity using a fluid with a specific gravity of 2.5.
So instead of needing mountains to store energy, it can use medium-sized hills.
The Wikipedia entry for vertical farming, introduces the concept like this.
Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. It often incorporates controlled-environment agriculture, which aims to optimize plant growth, and soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics. Some common choices of structures to house vertical farming systems include buildings, shipping containers, tunnels, and abandoned mine shafts.
As both HD Hydro Energy Storage system and vertical farming seem to need some form of vertical space, can colocation be advantageous in terms of cost?
Wikipedia also says that vertical farms also face large energy demands due to the use of supplementary light like LEDs.
So could V-FAST be an unusal marriage made in heaven of plant science and energy storage?
The Anonymous Widower 